Fool to Think
by Leonhart17
Summary: [AU SxF] Spike, Jet, and Faye play the jazz at the most popular club on Mars, The Bebop. When a blonde stranger attracts Spike's attention, will he choose to try his luck with her or will he finally notice his purple haired band mate? [Summary sucks]
1. The Bebop

AN: Before we begin we have to get some stuff out of the way - First of all this is an AU fic. Second of all it should be mentioned that this fic is inspired by an idea I had coupled with a peice of fanart I found online (The link is on my profile since the stupid site wont show the url.) (That whole site is a great Cowboy Bebop reference - I highly encourage you to look around if you enjoy the show)  
Third and final, I don't own Cowboy Bebop...that right goes to someone much more clever and smart than me - So don't sue...also, just so I don't have to repeat myself, this disclaimer applies to the whole fic (however long that ends up being depends on how much response I get.) 

**The Bebop**

Jet Black groaned as he surveyed the crowd that was growing outside the door of his club, The Bebop. If the rest of the band didn't show up soon he was going to have a riot on his hands when he had to turn the people outside away.

Just then the back doors of the club opened and a purple haired woman slipped through.

"That crowd is crazy," she exclaimed, pointing back towards the doors she had just entered. Jet just scowled as he nodded.

"Spike's not here yet," he said simply, his deep voice serious, as if he was ever anything but serious. Jet was a former cop who had a deep love for jazz music. When an injury cost him an arm and his job at the ISSP, he had fallen back on his love for music and opened a small club on Mars. It was right on the waterfront and quickly became very popular with locals looking for a place to relax. In addition to tending bar at the club, Jet also played piano in the house band.

Faye Valentine, Jet's fellow band member, just rolled her eyes. Spike Spiegel, the third member of their trio, was always late. Just as Faye was about to shrug and suggest they give up for the night Spike strolled casually in through the front doors of the club, not sparing a glance for the throngs of people that were milling around the sidewalk behind him.

With a flick of his long fingers he sent his burned out cigarette spinning into the ash tray that sat on the end of the bar.

"Quit showing off and get back here," Faye ordered, waving him toward the back of the stage. His off colored brown eyes flickered up to where she was standing, hands on her hips as she waited impatiently.

A smirk appeared on his face. "Aww, Faye did you miss me?" he asked sarcastically as his long legs carried him slowly across the room to the stage.

She didn't reply, just shoved his trumpet case into his chest as she moved to the side of the stage where her cello was resting on its stand. "Jet's been waiting to open. You know those people outside get crazy if we're not playing when he opens the doors."

Spike just shrugged and opened his trumpet case. Putting it to his lips, he blew a few notes and nodded to Faye who started playing her cello along to his nameless rhythm. Jet adjusted the lights, giving the club a darker atmosphere to suit the swanky jazz music coming from the stage. With a nod to the playing duo, he opened the doors, allowing the bar's nightly flood of patrons in.

Jet remained behind the bar for about half an hour before requests for his playing got too numerous and he announced that the bar was temporarily closed while he played a few songs. As the balding man mounted the stage the music stopped for a moment as Spike switched from playing trumpet to saxophone. Jet took his seat behind the piano and they started playing for the eager crowd.

As they played, Spike noticed a blonde woman working her way through the tables toward the stage. She was wearing a long black trench coat and her blue eyes were staring unwaveringly at him as she almost effortlessly moved through the crowd sitting in front of the stage.

She seated herself at an empty table near the front and nursed her drink as she stared up at Spike. The band played song after song and the woman's gaze didn't waver off of the lanky, green-haired man. The interest didn't escape his notice and he winked at her as he played the ending notes of the last song in the set.

Jet had to quickly move off the stage and resume his bartending but Spike and Faye lingered for a moment, Spike was sealing his trumpet and sax back into their cases and Faye was quickly retuning her cello. As they finished up, she stretched and jumped down off the stage. Spike followed her off the stage, but instead of moving towards the bar as she was, he moved to the table where the blonde woman was still sitting by herself.

"Hey," he greeted her, tipping his head as he shook a cigarette out of a pack. He held it between his lips as he slipped the pack back into his coat pocket. He patted his other coat pocket, looking for his lighter but desisted as the blonde slid one across the table to him.

"Thanks," he said, lighting the cigarette and sliding it back to her. She nodded in acknowledgement and smiled a tiny little smile at him. Loosening his tie with one hand he extended the other across the table to shake.

"I'm Spike," he introduced himself. She took his hand for a moment before releasing it.

"I'm Julia," she said quietly.

"Ever been here before Julia?" he asked, taking a drag of his cigarette.

* * *

Faye Valentine scowled to herself as she sat on her barstool watching Spike chat up the blonde woman that had been staring at him all through the show. Taking a deep breath she spun the stool around to face the bar and Jet knowingly smiled as he put a beer in front of her.

"He making new friends?" he asked, tilting his chin towards Spike. Faye just glared at him and took a swig of her drink.

Jet knew perfectly well how the purple-haired beauty felt about the oblivious Spike; even if Faye was too stubborn to admit it out loud. It was obvious in the way she looked at him whenever she thought no one was watching. Her green eyes lost some of their attitude and Jet could just catch a glimpse of her feelings. The two spent a majority of their time arguing and fighting like cats and dogs but Jet could see that their main reason for doing it was because they both found it entertaining.

"It's not my problem if he wants to waste his time flirting with some…blonde," she spat, standing up from her stool and pointing to the back room of the bar. "I'm gonna go feed Ein," she said, using the dog as a handy excuse to get away from the crowded main room.

Jet nodded, hiding a smile as she turned away.

'Someday,' he thought, 'Spike's gonna figure her out and it's going to be hilarious.'

* * *

Spike was surprised when he noticed the time on Julia's watch. They had been talking for over three hours. Glancing around, he noticed that a large majority of the crowd had gone. If fact, the only people still remaining were three old men that came to the bar every night, and Jet, who was turning chairs upside down on tables in preparation to close.

"Is it really four o'clock already?" Spike asked. Julia looked surprised but nodded as she checked her watch herself. "Wow," he said, standing up and stretching his long arms up over his head. She stood up as well and yawned, her hand coming up to cover her mouth.

"Will I ever see you again?" he asked, feeling drawn to her in a way that had never happened to him before.

She smiled her tiny little smile again and nodded before walking to the door without a word.

"Wait!" he called after her. She paused for a moment and looked back at him, her hand on the door. "When?" he asked. She didn't answer, just smiled and walked out into the night.

AN2: Yeah, theres another note - Sorry. I just had an urge to write this - unfortunately it came right when I was sitting down to write the next chapter of SC and working on wrapping up the next chapter of Ballroom...I ended up writing this instead but I'm gonna try and get the next chapter of Ballroom wrapped up tonight before I go to sleep...so look for that tomorrow...and the next chapter of SC might not be ready until next week unless I can find more time to write - I have to go out of town this weekend so there will be no writing time...It'll be soon though...I hope.

How much/if ever this thing gets updated will depend on how much response I get - This was just a plot bunny attack but I do have most of a tentative plot planned out so if you want me to continue, say so...if I should just stop now - tell me - I have no problem with that either.


	2. Crush

**Crush**

As the weeks passed it became normal for Julia to come to the club almost nightly. She would sit at the same table, just sitting quietly sipping her drink as the band played. After they stopped she would order a drink for Spike and after they finished their drinks the pair would disappear, wandering off into the night.

Faye never asked him where they went; she told herself that she didn't want to know. Spike seemed to almost act as if nothing had changed but it would take a blind fool to not notice the difference in him. For the first time since Jet had met the green haired man he seemed passionate about something…or someone.

The only other time Jet had witnessed Spike so animated was during an especially heated fight with Faye. If he was remembering correctly it was the time Spike had been arguing with her about dating. She had been seeing a guy named Gren who had just moved into town. He had been in the war on Titan and there were rumors that he had been a guinea pig for some weird experimental drugs.

Of course, when Spike voiced his objections that just reinforced Faye's determination to do the exact opposite of what Spike said she should do. Spike really should have anticipated that reaction, in Jet's opinion. But when Faye had turned up at the bar late one night after a date with Gren sobbing and flustered, Spike had become almost a different person. The normally stoic and collected man had lost control, losing his temper at Faye for not listening and promising revenge on Gren for anything the long haired man might have done. Faye had quickly left the bar, leaving Spike behind to pace and rant alone. Jet had worried for a while after that fight that the two of them would be unable to work out their fight and that he would have to replace one or both of them in the band. Both of them disappeared for a few days and neither mentioned the incident when they returned to the bar.

To Jet's knowledge, Faye had never revealed what had happened between her and Gren and Spike never mentioned his explosion of temper. The two of them acted as if the incident had never happened. And, to Jet's surprise, they seemed to be better friends than they had been before. Everything had quickly settled back into its normal cycle and life had gone on very much the same as it always had for the little bar and its band; until the arrival of a beautiful blonde woman had changed everything.

Since Julia had become such a regular at The Bebop Jet had gotten used to seeing her around the bar every night. So he took notice one night when she failed to turn up in time for the band's opening number…or the second song…or the third. When she finally showed up around midnight, she stayed close to the back of the bar, not moving toward the stage to take her normal table near the front.

The bar was so crowded that Jet was fairly sure that Spike couldn't see Julia from his position on the stage. Jet's spot behind the bar left her directly in his line of sight. The blonde woman was just leaning against the wall, looking up at the stage but making no move to get any closer to it than she already was. Throughout the night Jet kept an eye on Julia whenever he could, wanting to see what she was doing. She didn't seem to be doing much of anything, just standing by the wall and casually watching the band play. Various men would approach her occasionally but she was quick to send them on their way.

An upsurge in patrons at the bar caused Jet to forget about Julia and pay more attention to his job. When he had finally served the mob he turned his eyes back to the spot where Julia had been hovering all night and was surprised to see that she was gone. Raking the crowd with his eyes for the blonde haired woman, he discovered that she didn't appear to be anywhere inside the bar. When his eyes reached the stage they met Faye's, her green eyes echoing his own feeling of surprise.

As the last notes of the final song of the night faded the crowd erupted into cheers and, waving their thanks, Spike and Faye moved backstage. Jet quickly served the customers at the bar and went to join his friends. Spike was repacking his saxophone, looking distracted. Faye was watching him out of the corner of her eye when Jet came in. She turned her gaze to Jet, her eyes telling him immediately that she too had seen Julia in the club.

Nodding his head toward a corner of the room, away from Spike, Jet signaled Faye to join him. The purple haired woman did so, glancing over her shoulder at Spike as she did so.

"Did you see Julia?" Jet asked in a whisper, keeping an eye on Spike over Faye's shoulder.

Faye nodded with a grimace. "She left with some guy," she affirmed tonelessly.

Jet frowned as he looked down at Faye. "Are you sure?" he questioned her.

She nodded again. "They were both blonde. It was pretty easy to spot them in the crowd."

"And you're sure you saw them leave together?" Jet repeated himself. Faye sighed impatiently and rolled her eyes without speaking.

"Well shit," Jet said, glancing at Spike again.

Faye turned her head to glare at the green haired man and said acidly, "Yes Jet, that describes the situation fairly well."

* * *

Julia glanced back over her shoulder once as she allowed the blonde man, who called himself Vicious, to pull her away by the hand.

"Where are we going?" she asked him, wondering but finding herself not really caring what his answer was, just as long as he took her with him.

The man in front of her turned briefly to look at her over his shoulder before he replied. "Just away," he said simply, before turning away and continuing on their way.

Julia was surprised that she felt no guilt about leaving Spike. It was just for tonight and he hadn't even seen her ever come in the bar so he wouldn't even notice that she had left. With another man. She felt a heady rush whenever she thought about what she was doing. She had just left her boyfriend waiting on her while she explored the Mars night with a stranger.

A very intriguing stranger. Her interest in him stemmed not from his looks, which were gorgeous, or his clothes, which were nice, but from the intriguing look that resided in his eyes. It was the same sort of look that Spike had. Vaguely, in the back of her mind, she wondered what else Spike and this stranger might have in common.

The man before her slowed his walk and Julia took the time to look around, trying to get a bearing on where she might be. The atmosphere of the street before her was quiet, calm, completely separated from the boisterous energy that could be felt in the air down by the waterfront.

Vicious led her into a dark coffee shop. They were led to a table in the corner and left to themselves. There was quiet music playing in the background but most of the patrons seemed not to notice; nothing like at The Bebop where the music and the smooth, silky atmosphere were why people came. This place was frequented by people who wanted privacy instead of the very public feeling of most other places.

"So, why did we come here?" she asked, leaning forward onto her hands.

The man at the table with her just stared at her for a long moment and Julia found herself not really caring what his answer might be. The longer she looked into his eyes, the less she found herself caring about anything.

As the night deepened, so did the feeling that she was sinking into a dream that she didn't want to wake up from.

AN: Alrighty - for anyone who's reading this, this chapter really begins the plot now that the characters are all introduced (I tried to think of something for Ed to do but the best I could do was a waitress in the Bebop or something but I don't really think her part is necessary for the story... sorry). Hope everybody likes it...


End file.
